The name "Dracula" is often synonymous with the term "vampire". Just what is a vampire? According to The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language (fourth edition by the Houghton Mifflin Company), a vampire is described as any of the following:

1)-A reanimated corpse that is believed to rise from the grave at night to suck the blood of sleeping people.
2)-A person, such as an extortionist, who preys upon others.
3)-A vampire bat.

Prince Vlad Dracula was born in Schässburg (now called Sighisoara), a small town in former Transylvania (now known as northern Romania) in 1431. The house in which he was born, still stands intact in Sighisoara. It was no castle, but just a simple three-storied house.

He was named after his father Vlad Dracul, who belonged to the Order of the Dragon. This was an order formed by the Holy Roman Emperor for the purpose of defeating the Turks, who tried to conquer Europe at the time. The name "Dracul" which means dragon or devil, was taken on by his father, when he joined the order, the same year prince Vlad was born. He later added the -a on his son's name, which means "Son of the Dragon". But as the young prince grow older, he became more known as "Son of the Devil".

His father ruled over the area of Southern Romania known as Wallachia, and to keep his power, he had to be allied with powerful people. But he was a very unreliable master, that changed his allies constantly. To begin with he was against the Turks, later he suddenly changed policy and joined them for a short period. Perhaps this unreliable behavior was the reason why the Turkish Sultan ordered the capture of his two sons, prince Dracula and his little brother.

In 1447 prince Vlad Dracula's father was killed by some of his own men, and the year after, the prince, now age seventeen, was released from his imprisonment. He was sent back home to rule Wallachia, but in return he had to obey the Sultan in Constantinople. But he was overthrown, by a rival and had to escape, before he in 1456 could claim the throne back again. The first thing he did, was to build a stronghold for safety. With the help of several hundred noble families captured in his realm, who had to work as simple slaves, he got his stronghold build high up in the mountains, close to the northern Wallachian town of Tirgoviste.

Now six years of terror began. First he revenged his fathers death, then he got rid of all his enemies in a boundless carnage. Several thousand people was killed in Wallachia and the neighboring countries. But prince Dracula didn't just kill people, he liked to see them suffer. His favorite method of torturing someone to death, was impalement.

Impalement was a gruesome from of execution. The victim was impaled between the legs upon a large sharpened stake, with the width of a man's upper arm and hoisted upright in the air. Then the weight of the body would begin to drag them downwards, causing the sharpened end of the stake to pierce their internal organs very slowly. Vlad especially enjoyed mass executions, where several victims were impaled at once. In order to better enjoy these brutal acts, Vlad would place the impaled victims, in front of a banquet table and would then enjoy and commonly dine in his "forest of the impaled", to the sounds of the dying. It was these incredibly brutal acts, that got him the nickname "Tepes", which in Romanian means "Impaler".

It is alleged that prince Vlad Tepes was responsible for the death, of over a hundred thousand people within a few years. This figure, is including the twenty-five thousand people, who died due to Impalement.

In 1462, because of his enemies, Vlad Tepes had to flee again. He escape to Hungary, over the Transylvanian Alps, in hope of getting some help from the Hungarian king Corvinus. But instead of getting some sort of assistance, he was convicted on some false charges to prison for twelve years. When he was released again, he married a sister to the Hungarian King, and in November 1475, he finally got the assistance to regain control in Wallachian.

But only a month later, Dracula was killed in battle against the Turks near Bucharest. After his death, the feared and no doubt brave warrior was then decapitated. Just to make people sure that he really was dead, his head was put on display in Constantinople. Later his body was buried in a monastery near Snagov in Romania. In a book called "Dracule", from 1488, written only thirteen years after Vlad the Impaler died, he was descried as a vampire! An author by the name of Bram Stoker wrote a number of short stories and novels, but Bram Stoker is primarily remembered for only one, that of his tale of vampires which was titled "Dracula". Dracula was originally published in 1897. Dracula was an immediate success, and is one of the best-known and most popular horror stories ever written.

The practice of impalement was first seen in use by the Mongols of the Khanate of the Golden Ordu, of Timur the Lame and practically everywhere they rode the practice was adopted. The Turks, originally another Steppe people, were practicioners.

The Mongols were said not to use any form of punishment that drew blood on persons of noble birth. A noble would be wrapped in carpets and beaten to death thereby avoiding the shedding of blood. Those distinctions were lost on the people of eastern europe who adopted the practice, using impalement against anyone they chose. So you see impalement was not invented by Vlad Tepes at all.

Many people think sharp stakes were used in impalement,not so, the eastern Europeans would use large diameter rounded stakes inserted in the victims anus. All this was in the spirit of "I want him to Know he is dying" this operation would last several hours.

About your last questin - I think no, because he can't prove it. It's impossible.

A member of the Habsburg family is the owner of the Vlad's castle.

Vlad Dracul was a "vasal" of the Hungarian kings and the Order of the Dragon was a Hungarian Order,which founded Emperror Sigmund ( The Hungarian king) and the members of it were members of the Hungarian nobility.

The legend of Vlad as Dracula is so intriguing. I cannot think of another country which lends itself so well to this vampire lore as Romania: rocky crags, forbidding castles and fortresses, wooded hillsides, etc. I would love to see it first hand.

A couple of years ago there was a man who claimed that he was a descendent of Vlad VI on a television program about vampires. Are they any persons living today that are directly or indirectly descented from Vlad IV?

Jump to: navigation, searchOttomar Rodolphe Vlad Dracula Prinz Kretzulesco, born Ottomar Berbig (October 10, 1940[1] – November 2007) was a flamboyant Germansocialite who achieved fame through a claim of adoptedlineage from Vlad Dracula, the inspiration for Count Dracula.
Berbig was an antiques dealer in West Berlin in 1978 when an elderly woman entered his store wanting to sell heirlooms. The woman was Romanian princess Catherine Caradja (also known as Princess Caradja-Kretzulesco), who claimed to be a blood relative of Vlad Dracula. The two became friends, and the princess was keen to adopt Berbig as her family had no male heirs to carry the family name.[2]
Once formally adopted, the newly renamed 'Prince Kretzulesco' proved adroit at exploiting his 'Dracula lineage'. From his 46-room palace located in the town of Schenkendorf (Brandenburg), he organized so-called "blood-sucking parties" in conjunction with the German Red Cross at which guests were invited to donate blood. Likewise he entertained numerous other charity events including medieval festivals and ghost story-telling evenings.[3]
He also set up a wine business, marketing under the Castle of Dracula label, and became a local councillor, at one time proclaiming the town of Schenkendorf 'Dracula's Principality'.[3]
Kretzulesco died in Königs Wusterhausen of a brain tumor during the weekend of November 17-18, 2007. His son and heir, Ottomar Dracula Junior or 'Otti', celebrated his first birthday in December 2007.[3]

I just finished watching on the History channel a very interesting show about Dracula. A Romanian historian who can trace his family back centuries was trying to see if there was a possible link between his family and Vlad. Supposedly his ancestors had fought against Dracula or this had been a story handed down. Very interesting program. His family had done some research on this. He continued the research.

The castle where Vlad lived was high up in the mountains. Those who tried to go up there often suffered misfortune. These two researchers were able to get up there and on a full moon slept in one of the towers. Brave men, if you tell me. Around midnight a bright red light came up to where the castle was and then vanished. Paranormal activity. Considering what happened there, it's not surprising that you had paranormal activity.

This is a creepy story but it's true. I can't remember whether it was Halloween or Christmas (I think it was Christmas) but our dorm floor in college decided to decorate our doors for various holidays. The Christmas decorations were supposed to be of Christmas scenes, Christmas traditions or other customs of Christmas around the world. Most people chose the country or countries in Europe where their ancestors came from.

The two women that lived next door to me who were not of Romanian ancestry decorated their doom with a artist drawing of the castle where Dracula lived. It said "Welcome to Transylvania." Then it said "Enter at your own Risk." When I saw first saw this artist drawing of the castle, my hair went up on end (I didn't know why). This was supposed to be a joke but sadly a couple of months later one of these women got very ill and died from bacterial meningitis.

Of course when I mentioned this, people rolled their eyes at me. Just a very wierd thing is all I can say about this.

A couple of years ago there was a man who claimed that he was a descendent of Vlad VI on a television program about vampires. Are they any persons living today that are directly or indirectly descented from Vlad IV?

Isn't the Queen of England a descendant or maybe another royal clan from Britain if not the Windsors. So I heard u can correct me .